Recipients of letters, emails and phone calls purporting to be from the UK’s Insolvency Service are being warned not to pay an up-front fee to recover lost investments.
“These approaches are always fraudulent,” the Insolvency Service has warned.
Known as recovery room schemes, they see individuals or groups impersonate legitimate entities – even going to far as to send fake letters with the correct logo to encourage people to part with their money.
Another tactic scammers use is called ‘spoofing’, where the caller ID and phone number seen by the intended victim display the legitimate number for the Insolvency Service or other organisation.
Do not pay
The Insolvency Service stated: “Official receivers or any agent legitimately instructed to act on their behalf will never ask you to pay an up-front fee to get some or all of your investment back.
“The Official receiver can only make return to you as a creditor in failed schemes if assets are realised in the liquidation of the company you bought your investment from.
“If there is a distribution to be made, the official receiver will write to creditors letting them know and inviting them to submit a proof of debt.”
It added: “Paying an up-front fee will not make you a priority creditor – you won’t get paid faster or increase the change of you getting any money back.”
